Only Kidding
by hp4evr123
Summary: Ginny mistakes George for Fred, and they proceed to have a short chat at a Muggle cafe.


**This is kind of a continuation of Until There Are No More Stars in the Sky, but you don't need to read that first. This was kind of sad, too, and I again don't know where it came from. The characters are not mine, they belong to J.K. Rowling.**

Ginny Weasley let out a soft, sad sigh, but it wasn't soft enough. Harry looked up from the Quidditch book he was reading and examined her wistful expression critically. Ever since he had found Ron out by the old tree at the Burrow, Ginny had grown increasingly sad and depressed. She had her good days, of course, when she was all bright with happy smiles, but her bad days had become worse and more frequent. Harry was worried.

Ginny stared out the window of the flat she and Harry shared. She looked out on the Muggle street below and watched the happy, oblivious people passing by. She and Harry had decided to live in a Muggle neighborhood, as there would be fewer reporters coming to bother. Usually she found this quite comforting, but at the moment, all she felt was a deep longing to see her family.

"I think I'm going to go visit mum and dad," Ginny told her husband abruptly. She stood from the small window seat she had been occupying for the last two hours, and Harry set down his book and stood with her.

"I'll go with you," he offered.

"No," Ginny said quickly. She smiled at her loving, wonderful husband. "I'd rather go alone, if you don't mind."

Harry, ever the gentleman, nodded and settled back into his chair.

"Alright. Don't be too long, though. I think we should go out with Neville and Hannah for dinner tonight. They've been mentioning it for weeks now."

"Okay," Ginny agreed, and leaned over to kiss Harry quickly. She pulled on a nice Muggle coat over her Muggle clothes, and headed out of their flat. There was an apparition point nearby, and Ginny was planning on using that.

Ginny walked quietly by herself down the busy Muggle street. The air was crisp and cold, promising snow later on, and shop windows around her glittered with Muggle Christmas decorations. She passed by the brightly lit shop windows, and meandered down the street slowly. She was in no hurry to get to the Burrow now that she thought of it. She was actually quite content to just wander along. Her mum and dad could wait; it wasn't as if they were expecting her or anything.

Ginny bought a coffee and sat down to read a newspaper at a small café, just up the street from her and Harry's flat. Just as Ginny opened the paper, though, a flash of red caught her eye, and suddenly, her brother was sitting in front of her.

"Hey Gin," he offered with a grin.

"Fred?" Ginny asked in shock. Her brother's sly grin was enough to make a smile stretch across her lips, too.

"I'm not Fred, I'm George. Honestly, girl, you call yourself my sister!" he said in a gently teasing voice. Ginny blanched. She could have sworn it was Fred in front of her, not his twin.

"Sorry, George," she said quietly. She sipped her coffee carefully. George laughed at her guilty expression.

"That's alright, little sister. Lots of people get him and I confused," George said. "So, how's Harry?"

"Oh, he's fine. He's only reading," Ginny said quietly as she looked down at her coffee. George smirked at his little sister.

"Only reading, eh?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Ginny's eyes popped wide and she blushed to the roots of her hair as she smacked her brother on the arm hard.

"I can't believe you just said that!" she told him, aghast. George just laughed at his excitable younger sister.

"I'm only kidding," he chuckled quietly. A long moment of peaceful quiet passed between them.

"Hey, Gin, you remember when we were little and playing Quidditch at the Burrow, and Ron made that goal, and I beat the Bludger right at him?" George asked Ginny quickly, in a rush. Ginny was quiet for a moment, remembering the scene he had described.

"Yeah," she said, nodding.

"Would you tell him I'm sorry?" George asked her, looking down at his fingers as he twisted them on the table anxiously. Ginny looked at her brother carefully, and finally sighed.

"I s'ppose I could," she said softly. George looked up at his little sister and grinned brightly.

"You know, Gin? You and ickle Ronniekins always were my favorites," he told Ginny with a happy smile on his face. She tried to hold in her puzzled look, and settled for pleasant surprise.

"What about…Fred?" she asked. She suddenly slapped her hand over her lips, not believing that she dared to breathe that after her earlier blunder. It had simply slipped out.

George's face fell, and the total sadness in his eyes made Ginny grimace herself.

"No one could ever compare with my twin," he told Ginny in a quiet, terribly sad and totally aching voice. Ginny felt as though she could feel every tiny twist of pain in her brother's heart as he fell into a pit of despair. She could not believe that she had brought that up, when he had been smiling and happy, no less. It had been completely unfair and tactless of her, and highly insensitive. She could only imagine what her mother would say if she were there to witness the exchange. Even with Ginny married and out of the house, she would still be grounded for a month. There were some lines you just didn't cross with your brothers, and she had just overstepped a huge one.

"I-I'm so sorry, George," Ginny stuttered. George looked up at her with a gentle, soft smile.

"I miss him, but we're both moving on now, Gin. It's alright. Sometimes, it feels really good to talk about him," George explained to her gently, reaching across the table to take her hand. He sighed and stood up quickly, and leaned over to kiss her cheek. "I'd better go, though. I've got someplace to be."

"Alright," Ginny agreed weakly. She folded up the unread newspaper before her as George began to walk away. He quickly turned around and walked back over.

"Oh, Gin?" he said. Ginny looked up. "Don't forget to tell Ron. Okay?" he asked. Ginny nodded.

"Of course, George," she told him softly. He smiled a genuine smile, not the smirk that had been his and Fred's trademark, but a genuine smile that she remembered from her childhood, when her twin brothers would tuck her in and read her a bedtime story. Ginny felt a lull of peace enter her heart, and looked back up to see her brother just a few paces ahead.

Ginny quickly thought back to that day, knowing that something was wrong with this apology. Something was off…

And suddenly, she realized exactly what was off by just a smidge. She clearly remembered her mum screaming at Fred while she tried to fix Ron's bruised and fractured wrist. It was Fred who had sent the Bludger flying at Ron, and it was Fred who was scolded for it afterwards. It had been Fred that day, not George…

George turned to the left, looking at something passing on the street, and Ginny felt her stomach drop. His left ear, perfectly intact, mocked her from George's head.

As if sensing her stare, George turned and winked at her, grinning that mischievous smirk that always made Ginny's day when she was a little girl. This time, though, she felt like screaming, crying, or doing a combination of both in the middle of the street.

"Only kidding, I am Fred," he told her. He turned back around, and disappeared into the crowd of people.


End file.
